Aquarium Light Dimmer?

[Tropical_Decade]

Does anyone know if there is such a product available?

I was thinking about it this morning when the light came on at 9am and the fish all look shocked for a few seconds, it would be nice if it faded on and off like in nature.

A light unit that has a dimmer function that could be timed?

Whereby a light is dimmed on over the period of an hour, remain on constant for 10 hours, then dim off over a period of one hour?

If these set-ups arent available im thinking about knocking something up, will need to have a think about it, but im electrically and electronically qualified so would have a good chance.

 

[sjolliff]

suppose if you was good with electrics you could modify a household dimmer switch, but it would not be atomatic

suppose if you was good with electrics you could modify a household dimmer switch, but it would not be atomatic

you have got live,earth and neutral in the light and switch i would of thought you would run the power cord via the switch

 

[Ian H]

if your qualified why are you asking on here? you will know more than most of the people on here!!

Most people who want to achieve this have more than one light, the first light comes on with a timer then the other comes on with a timer half hour later or whatever. Personally i just set all mine to come on and go off at the same time

 

[Tropical_Decade]

Yeh i think i could master that.

My main concern is the fluorescent tubes, i remember reading somewhere that they are either On or Off, ie can not be controlled via voltage.

 

[Jallen]

Yeh i think i could master that.

My main concern is the fluorescent tubes, i remember reading somewhere that they are either On or Off, ie can not be controlled via voltage.

An arc cannot be created when the voltage goes too low even through the gas the tubes use. For this reason they cannot be controlled by voltage.
To make a tube work with a dimmer switch you need to play around with heating the bulb to allow the arc to be created at lower voltages with higher temperatures.

Not worth the effort.

 

[Tropical_Decade]

Cheers for the replys.

Ian H - I didnt mean to come across as cocky or anything when i said im qualified, i asked on here just incase any members have already done it or looked into it. I mentioned that ive got electrical qualifications and experience just so that people dont think im a muppet going to electrocute myself! Lol.

 

[zuulan]

Yeh i think i could master that.

My main concern is the fluorescent tubes, i remember reading somewhere that they are either On or Off, ie can not be controlled via voltage.

Yea. I don't think fluorescents can work with dimmers.

Why not do the easy and cheap route of switching on rooms lights first? I have a uplighter right beside my tanks and I switch that on for a few minutes before switching the aquarium lights on. I also ensure it's on when I switch them off at night. Again I leave that on for a few minutes before the room is left totally dark.

It's still far from perfect, it's no-where near the same as a raising Sun, but anything else I think would be too much effort.

 

[chr15_8]

yea you can get dimmable ballast for fluorescents now.

you would best of using led's. there a guy on ultimate reef who has made his his own led lighting system which dims itself up and down though out the day. i believe someone made one so it would dim one section as if a cloud had came over but your looking at few hundred £.

i would personally get a smaller light say your unit it 50w get a 25w unit and time it so it comes on for 15 mins before the main lights turn on. you could then turn this light off if you don't want the extra lighting

 

[keenonfish]

yea you can get dimmable ballast for fluorescents now.

you would best of using led's. there a guy on ultimate reef who has made his his own led lighting system which dims itself up and down though out the day. i believe someone made one so it would dim one section as if a cloud had came over but your looking at few hundred £.

i would personally get a smaller light say your unit it 50w get a 25w unit and time it so it comes on for 15 mins before the main lights turn on. you could then turn this light off if you don't want the extra lighting

Dimming led's is very easy these days using a ucontroller and certainly wouldn't cost hundreds. By far the most expensive bit would be the LED's themselves the rest of the hardware is maybe £20 at best. Learn a little programming and your sorted!

I have not done this project because I have not worked for 2 years and so skint and tbh don't give a #### anymore.

Thinking on another way of dimming florescents I have pondered is using shutter blinds or similar (like a roller blind or reflective tube round the bulb 50% mirrored to cover light slowly, then turn off tubes. Could be done with old (modified?) servos and a 555 I.C. with a bit of logic thrown in but it a bit heath robinson.

 

[hogan53]

Hi all

If its a dual t8 tube lighting unit you could undo the starter for the brightest tube and then replace later.
I didn't have any problems regarding this action.
hoggie